Diageo To Launch Roe & Co Irish
Blended Whiskey

Diageo return to Irish
whiskey with the launch of Roe & Co premium Irish
blended whiskey and the announcement of a new
distillery in Dublin.

Diageo has announced that they are returning to the
booming Irish whiskey market with the launch of a
brand new premium Irish blended whiskey named
Roe & Co.

They have also revealed plans for a £18.6 million investment over 3
years in a whiskey distillery at the Guinness Power
House site at St Jamesís Gate, Dublin which will one day
produce the whiskey which will go into the new Roe & Co whiskey brand but until
that time the whiskey you will find in a Roe & Co
bottle will have been sourced from various Irish
whiskey distilleries.

I have to say that I was a little baffled when
Diageo parted with the Northern Irish Bushmills
distillery given the surging popularity of Irish
whiskey worldwide but I was probably viewing the
move purely through my whisky blinkered eyes and the
move was likely a good business one for Diageo
as it gave them ownership of the premium tequila brand
Don Julio from Jose Cuervo and secured production
and distribution of Smirnoff vodka in Mexico, also from
Jose Cuervo.

I do wonder if the Roe & Co Irish whiskey and the new
distillery was on the cards when Diageo parted with Bushmills and did they perhaps stockpile some
whiskey from Bushmills before they parted with it.
In reality we will never know the source of the new
Roe & Co Irish blended whiskey but it will be aimed
at the premium end of the market, it will be
interesting to see how alike it will be to the
excellent Bushmills blends.

The new whiskey brands name, Roe & Co, is in honour
of George Roe, the once world-famous whiskey maker
who helped build the golden era of Irish Whiskey in
the 19th century. His distillery, George Roe and Co
extended over 17 acres on Thomas Street in Dublin
and was once Ireland's largest distillery. As
neighbours for hundreds of years George Roe and Co
and Guinness were the two biggest names at the heart
of Dublinís historic brewing and distilling quarter.

Diageo will now build on this rich heritage with the
creation of a new distillery by converting the
historic former Guinness Power House on Thomas
Street. The new St. Jamesís Gate distillery, will be
situated just a stones throw away from where the
George Roe and Co distillery once stood and subject
to planning approval will begin production in the
first half of 2019.

Diageoís Master Blender Caroline Martin who has 30
years experience is behind the creation of the new
Roe & Co whiskey, Caroline and her team have sourced
and selected stocks of the very finest Irish
whiskies. They have trialled over 100 prototype
blends since December 2014, in the creation of what
Diageo are calling an extraordinary expression of
Irish Whiskey. This first Roe & Co whiskey contains
a high proportion of first-fill bourbon casks which
they say gives notes of creamy vanilla balanced with
hints of fruit and soft spice and a remarkable depth
for such an elegant and refined whiskey.

Roe & Co is made from a blend of Irish malt and
grain whiskies and aged in bourbon casks. They tell
me that it has the signature smoothness of Irish
Whiskey with remarkable depth of flavour, they
describe it as a luxuriously smooth blend, with a
perfect harmony between the intense fruitiness of
the malt and the mellow creaminess of the grain
whiskies.

Roe & Co is non-chill filtered and bottled at 45%
ABV, the first blend of Roe & Co will be available
in key European cities from 1st March 2017, it will
be available from specialist whisky shops such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop
and
Master of Malt